Yes
57% (16)

No
43% (12)

Former El Cajon Councilwoman Jillian Hanson-Cox pleaded guilty to two felony charges on Friday stemming from the embezzlement of $3.5 million from her employer, a machine manufacturer in Kearny Mesa.

We didn't list her political party.

"Every other news agency is reporting that she is a Republican," commenter David McCullough said in response to the story. "I wonder why the U-T didn't bother to mention that?"

McCullough lists himself as a "bleeding heart liberal" on his Facebook page, and his implication was that the conservative ownership of the newspaper was covering up for a GOP office-holder.

The truth is more mundane. The newspaper doesn't routinely mention party affiliation in most any City Council story because the offices are nonpartisan. That same policy carries over from routine meeting coverage into bigger news like criminal charges.

For partisan offices like Assembly or Congress, we list political party most every time we mention a politician -- again, whether they are proposing a newsworthy bill or being sent to prison.

Here are some examples of non partisan elected officials -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- whose party affiliation was not mentioned in stories about criminal prosecutions:

Democrats

As commenter Chris Brewster said in response to the discussion about the Hanson-Cox story, "The key journalistically is consistency. If the U-T is consistent in its policy about mentioning political party, it would seem to me to be inherently fair."

In the stories I could find, we have been consistent. It's certainly possible, as McCullough suggested in subsequent comments, that the times have become so politically charged that it's time for a new policy.

In that spirit, I have posted a poll with this story about whether we should mention political party in stories like this. Please let us know what you think by voting, or commenting below.

Oh, and as to McCullough's claim that "every other news agency" listed Hanson-Cox's political party, I'm not sure that's true. I wasn't paying attention to the party issue on other media when the story broke on Friday, but a quick search now indicates that 10News, at least, did not mention her Republicanness in its web story.